Posts Tagged ‘madrid’

Good to see an American presence deeper into a clay tournament, but it had to end at some point: Li Na beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of this week’s Mutua Madrid Open. (Video: See how Li has been training on the dirt)

Going forward: Li’s semifinal opponent will be either Kvitova or Cibulkova, both of who had huge scalps this week: Zvonareva for the former and Kuznetsova for the latter. (Draw: Mutua Madrid Open Women’s Draw)

UA: Bethanie — with her best lothario make-up — already showed off the purple version of this stripey Under Armour tank, and here it is in the black/white colorway.

Madrid: Fourth seed Murray ran into the Thomaz Bellucci train at this week’s Mutua Madrid Open. The Brazilian is still in it, nabbing a semifinal spot after upsetting 7th seed Tomas Berdych 7-6 (2), 6-3. Bellucci will play the winner of Ferrer/Djokovic and Nadal, who beat Llodra, will face either Federer or Soderling. (Draw: The Madrid Open Men’s Bracket)

Look down: As hypnotizing as it is, look away from Muzz’s fuzz for a sec and check out his fun blue adidas polo, part of their Barricade group and exclusive to Andy. Loving the green detail in the placket. Buy: adidas Men`s Barricade Traditional Tennis Polo; $51.99; tennisexpress.com.

We won’t even bring up pre-match sex: Third seed Francesca Schiavone‘s prep for a defense of her French Open title continued to sputter as she was ousted by Bethanie Mattek-Sands 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 in the third round of this week’s Mutua Madrid Open. (Schiavone lost her first clay event — Stuttgart — to Radwanska.) Up next for Mattek, who also upset Ivanovic in the opening round, is eighth seed Li Na. With Zvonareva and Caro both out, we’re picking Cibulkova to come out of that half. What do you think? (Browse: Mutua Madrid Open Women’s Singles Draw)

Video: Bethanie took some time in Madrid to soak up some local color. Here’s a video of her and hubby Justin getting their caricatures drawn. She really wanted that dimple in there, eh? (What, no eyeblack?) Click on the image above to watch.

Clothes:Under Armour prints can get pretty busy, but we’re loving this one that’ll stay around through the summer. Buy: UA Summer Print Tank; white; $49.99; TW.

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Nole‘s winning streak is now at 30, the latest being his opening round at the Mutua Madrid Open against Kevin Anderson. We’re not really seeing any threats in his quarter (or even half) of the draw this week. What do you think? (Draw: Mutua Madrid Open Men’s Singles)

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At least he looking better with age. 2003 French Open Champ Juan Carlos Ferrero got bounced out of this week’s Mutua Madrid Open in the first round by Thiemo De Bakker 2-6, 7-5, 6-4. This, after his recent return from seven months in the sidelines recovering from knee surgery.

“Physically I’m not very well,” explained the former World No. 1. “The situation is quite tough. I think it’s difficult to accept it but if the pain continues throughout the year, I suppose that in Valencia I will announce my retirement.”

Valencia: ATP Profile. Valencia is JCF’s hometown and he’s going to be the tourney director for the event.

Madrid: De Bakker is in the same quarter as Ferrer and Nole. See how it’s all playing out here.

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Bethanie Mattek-Sands needs to take her eyeblacking to the next level. Can we make a suggestion?

American on clay: At this week’s Mutua Madrid Open, she’s continuing her run into the single’s draw by beating qualifier Vania King 6-0, 6-2 in the second round. This, of course, after taking out Ana Ivanovic in three sets to start out the event. BMS’ll face the winner of the all-Italian battle between Schiavone and Errani. (Does Sara have the same Fed Cup beef as Vinci?)

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Flavio of the week? We’re curious to see how deep Flavio Cipolla will make it into the men’s singles draw at this week’s Mutua Madrid Open. The Italian qualifier upset Andy Roddick in a performance that tells us the American’s answer to this question; Flavio next plays Michael Llodra, who also knocked out an American, Sam Querrey. In that section, we’re expecting a Nadal vs. Melzer quarterfinal. (Draw: Madrid Open Men’s Singles)

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Juan Monaco‘s playing at this week’s combined Mutua Madrid Open, winning his first-rounder against Andrey Golubev 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. He’ll need to step it up if he wants to upset ninth seed Gael Monfils in the next round. They both share the same quarter as Andy Murray (though we think it’s Tomas Berdych‘s to lose). Browse: Mutua Madrid Open Draws.

Taking pic(o)s: Some shots we took of Monaco earlier this year at Indian Wells.